Styrene

As a leader in styrene technology for more than 55 years, the Badger name has become synonymous with energy efficiency, reliability and long on-stream times. Together with our operating partner TotalEnergies, we have developed a technology that operates at an ultra-low steam-to-oil ratio in the reactors with the longest operating runs between catalyst changes in the industry. 

Ethylbenzene (EB) is dehydrogenated to styrene over potassium-promoted iron oxide catalyst in the presence of low steam-to-oil to achieve high styrene selectivity. Byproduct benzene and toluene are recovered via distillation with the benzene fraction being recycled to the EB unit. Heat is added between reaction stages to drive EB conversion to economic levels. Heat can be added by 1) conventional means such as steam heated exchange and super heating steam in a fired heater, or 2) directly using proprietary Direct Heating Technology co-developed by CRI, TotalEnergies and Technip Energies.

Reactor effluent is cooled in a series of exchangers to recover heat and condense hydrocarbons and water. Uncondensed offgas, primarily hydrogen, is compressed and then directed to an absorber system for recovery of trace aromatics. Following aromatics recovery, the hydrogen-rich offgas is consumed as fuel in process fired heaters. Condensed hydrocarbons (crude styrene) are sent to the distillation section, while process condensate is stripped to remove dissolved aromatics and gases. The cleaned process condensate is returned as boiler feedwater to offsite steam boilers or EB unit steam generators